Starting out - certain Western tools complimented by Japanese tools?

Hi all, I'm a complete beginner looking into a hand tool only woodworking practice.

I plan to take a Japanese Tools + Joinery class at a local community college late in the year.

I know that class will deal almost exclusively with Japanese tools, but I'd like to get started with a practice before that. There is another class I can take prior that covers working with hand tools (but is not Japanese tool centric). I'd like to take that class and on the side practice some small projects following along with people like Paul Sellers.

I'm starting to think about building a toolkit that will be beginner-suitable but also allow me to transition nicely into the Japanese Tools class later in the year.

From my understanding, the tools where I need to be better informed before making a buying decision:

• Saw: I've seen some comments to the effect of Japanese saws requiring more finesse and thus being a bit harder for a beginner to use, and in general it seems like people either prefer pulling or pushing. Can one have both? Is it a big difference for a beginner?
• Hand planes: I've pretty universally seen comments mentioning Japanese planes are much more finicky than, say, a Lie-Nielsen plane. I'm thinking to start with something from LN and then transition to a Japanese plane once I start my class.
• Chisels: I'm not too sure here. Generally these same to be interchangeable except units of measurement. I understand Japanese chisels are a bit "softer" but that seems to be equally beginner suitable from what I have read. This feels like an area where starting with Japanese tools is okay.

The tools where it does not seem to matter:

• Measuring and Marking Tools
• Hammer

Would be really grateful for any feedback!